Smarty pants

Photo by David Hartman

This morning over breakfast, my elementary aged daughter was lamenting having to spend another morning taking standardized end of grade tests. Yesterdays tests, it seems, were not up to her standard. She's a smarty pants.

Truth is, her reading level is extraordinarily high, which I love. And hate. She has the ability to read and comprehend books on very mature subjects. But, let's face it. She's a kid, growing quickly, but still a kid. Let me put it to you this way, when she refers to the "s" word, she means "stupid." That, in her experience, is the mac-daddy of all bad words.

Finding appropriate books for her to read that challenge her reading level and are content appropriate is my current struggle. This morning, she declared emphatically,

"I bet I could even read Mommy's book."

Oh, no, you can't!

This was my first thought. My characters say "stupid" all the time! They swipe dad's liquor one night and drink until they make unfortunate phone call decisions. My characters come this close to S-E-X.

There is NO way in all of stupid-dom I want my little girl reading my book.

But, then, she added this tag to her declaration,

"When it gets published."

Ah, yes. By the time my book gets published, at the rate it is taking me, she will be mature enough to read it. In fact, she may have already been stupid enough to do most of the things my characters are doing.

I'm not sure if that is motivation to write faster or not.